Agoura Hills opposes green initiative

The Agoura Hills City Council is opposing Proposition 7, a November ballot measure on renewable energy.

If approved by a majority of California voters, the initiative would require energy agencies to increase the amount of electricity generated through solar and other green technologies. Utilities would have to meet renewable energy targets that are more than double the current, non-mandated goals.

After a request from Southern California Edison, Agoura Hills officials decided to issue a letter stating the city's opposition to Proposition 7.

"It was created out of good intentions, but like most things, the devil is in the details," Mayor John Edelston said.

The City Council voted 4-0 last week to oppose the initiative. Councilman Denis Weber was absent.

The proposition would require utilities to generate 20 percent of their power from renewable energy by 2010, and would raise that to 40 percent by 2020 and 50 percent by 2025.

Rudy Gonzales, an Edison spokesman, spoke to the council and said there are loopholes in the non-compliance penalty aspect of the initiative. The loopholes would make it advantageous to not comply with the new goals, according to critics of the measure.

Gonzales also said there would be greater regulatory complexity in selecting sites for new power plants and transmission lines, and an unrealistic price cap of 3 percent on rate increases.

"I'm stunned that the city leaders would not want to hear from the other side and not just take the word of a big utility," said Jim Gonzalez, chairman of Californians for Solar and Clean Energy, a lobbying group for the initiative. Gonzalez defended the measure and its non-compliance penalties.

"Some say there are loopholes, some say we are too high, but we think our penalties are just right. If our penalties are too low, then the utilities should like the bill," he said. "California is blessed with renewable energy resources, and Proposition 7 is intended to raise the bar on how we deal with them."